


SCAREDY CAT

by wayvbabey



Series: NCT HALLOWEEN SERIES: NCT Dream [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Halloween
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:28:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26884396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wayvbabey/pseuds/wayvbabey
Summary: You absolutely HATE anything scary. but when your friends suggest you spend the night of Halloween at a haunted house, you just can’t refuse. It only goes downhill from there, because you’re about three seconds away from wetting yourself, and- is that your crush?
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Reader
Series: NCT HALLOWEEN SERIES: NCT Dream [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956091
Kudos: 32





	SCAREDY CAT

_-_

You do not want to be here.

Every part of your body is on high alert. Goosebumps cover every inch of your skin while your palms are sweaty and balled into fists. You don’t even dare to breathe, scared that the noise will attract some unwanted attention.

Someone’s hand finds your own.

“It’s okay, Y/N.” Minji whispers. “You’ve got this.”

Then, a zombie leaps at her.

“ _Shit!_ ”

You let go of her hand with a terrified scream, staggering backwards into the darkness. A small part of you wants to save her, to try and offer some help, but you’re too much of a coward to do anything more than back away. Minji was a nice friend, but it’s time for you to let her go.

“Fuck this.”

From out of nowhere someone grabs your wrist and pulls you harshly, causing your shoulder to knock into theirs. Upon impact you recognise a familiar saccharine perfume scent that can only belong to Eunha.

As quickly as one of your friends has disappeared, another has come to take their place.

“Oh my God, oh my _God_ ,” you moan as the two of you hightail it away. “We just ditched Minji.”

“You wanna stay with her?” Eunha snaps, yanking you forward just as you’re about to stumble. “Cause I sure as hell don’t wanna be paying for a new carpet if you piss your pants.”

“You don’t- _huff_ -need to get so personal.” Is your breathless reply. “Where are the others?”

“I left Younghee and Dowoon in the science classroom. Hate me all you want, but they were too slow.”

“So it’s just us?”

“It’s just us.” She affirms before coming to an abrupt halt and dragging you through a door. It takes you a second to realise you’re in a maths classroom.

Or what _was_ a maths classroom. Now, the walls are plastered with grey cobwebs and there’s mist covering the floor, churning in slow waves. Everywhere you look there is a dim glow, so dark that you can only make out Eunha’s silhouette despite her being a few feet away from you.

“Are we just gonna stay here?” You whisper. “Shouldn’t we try to find the exit?”

“Have you got a map?” She snarks back.

“Don’t be a bitch. Just because you saved me doesn’t mean you get to be all snappy. But thanks for that- saving me, I mean.”

“No worries,” Is her reply, “like I said, we’re not spending the night of Halloween cleaning up your bodily fluids.”

You wrinkle your nose. “Don’t say that-”

“Who’s there?”

The two of you freeze as a shout rings out across the room. Slowly, Eunha reaches for you, clutching your hand in her own and pulling you backwards, deeper into the classroom.

“Sounds like a student.” You mutter.

“Yeah, that’s what we thought about the last guy,” she hisses back softly. “Then he decided to scream right in Dowoon’s face.”

“Is anyone there?” The voice calls again, this time closer. You keep your eyes pinned on the door where you can just barely see someone move into the room. It’s a single person, a bad sign, so you stick close to Eunha as the two of you give the newcomer a wide berth, letting them in while you try to inch towards the door.

“I see the two of you moving, y'know.” It deadpans. “And I'm not one of those stupid actors.”

You pause. “That sounds like Yangyang.”

“Did you just say Yangyang?” It, or _he_ , replies. “Wait… is that Y/N? Y/N from Biology?”

“Yangyang!” You drag Eunha forward, happy to have found another friend.

“ _Yeah, Yangyang!_ ” A warbled voice echoes.

You scream bloody murder, and then everything springs into action. Eunha tugs sharply on your wrist but you’re frozen with fear, meaning she has no choice but to leave you behind. Now that she’s gone you know whatever is inside the room with you is either going to get you or Yangyang.

“I’ll do your biology notes for a week.” You whisper into the darkness.

Then you run to the door.

“Fuck you, Y/N!” Is the last thing you hear before the voices fade away. You’re running on adrenaline, tearing down the hallway in hopes of catching up to Eunha. But the corridors are still dimly lit, meaning you have no idea what’s going on or where you are.

“What do we have here?” A raspy voice sounds from your left and you catch sight of someone with a ripped up face, littered with fake (you hope) scratches and dripping with blood. You blurt out another scream, high-pitched enough to rival a newborn baby, before making a hard left, only just managing to head down another corridor.

“Why- _huff_ -the fuck- _huff_ -am I here?” You mutter to yourself as you continue to race around the labyrinth. It’s only once a stitch begins to form down your right side that you decide to slow down to walk. As if in reply, a scream from far away ricochets off the walls and you tense up, horrified that something is happening near you. All you want to do is find the exit.

Sadly, that thought- and all thoughts -go bouncing out of your head as your foot collides with something hard on the floor. You try to find your footing but you bump into something else again and end up sailing through the air, hitting the ground hard.

You lay there for a few moments, thinking, _this is it, they’ve got me._

Then something speaks-

“Didn’t they tell you that you’re not allowed to touch the actors?”

-and you realise this is _far_ worse than being caught by anything roaming around.

Gathering your bearings, you look up to find Lee Donghyuck dusting himself off under the dim light. When his eyes meet yours, they go wide and a second later his hand is stuck out.

He’s offering to help you up.

“Y/N, right?”

You swallow, before taking his hand and allowing him to haul you to your feet. It honestly comes as a surprise to you when you don’t immediately go crashing back to the floor. Your legs feel like jelly.

“Yep,” you mutter, “that’s me.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Are you okay?”

Would you be okay if you’ve spent the last half an hour in a constant state of terror, only to then fall over and subsequently start talking to your crush? you want to ask him. Instead, you just plaster on a smile and say: “Yeah! _Totally_ fine!”

“Are you sure?” You see him knit his eyebrows together as he looks you up and down. “You were moving pretty fast and you hit the floor quite hard. Were you running from someone?”

“ _Nope!_ ” You reply a little too quickly. “I was, um, just- just going for a jog. I'm _so_ eager to get out of here, y'know?”

“Really?” He tilts his head a little to the side and you want to just melt. You didn’t like Donghyuck just for his looks, but it certainly made up a large part of the attraction “Is this place boring you?”

You look at him again, this time taking in his ripped clothes and grisly makeup. He’s an actor too and the last thing you want it to inadvertently insult his job. 

“No!” You backtrack as fast as humanly possible, shuffling backwards a few steps and forcing out an awkward laugh. “No way! I’m having a super great time! This is… so exhilarating!”

“ _Ah…_ ” He nods to himself. “I thought I heard you screaming earlier. Did Ten catch you in the math classrooms? He likes to hang around there because it’s closer to the break room.”

“No.” You deny. You don’t care how many lies you have to tell, Lee Donghyuck will not find out that you’re a scaredy-cat. “I’m pretty sure that was Yangyang. Or Eunha. Oh, _Eunha_!” You force out another fake laugh. “She’s _terrified_ of stuff like this, the poor thing. She bolted as soon as Ten came in. I was actually just trying to find her!”

He frowns again. “What were you doing with Yangyang?”

“Um,” you pause. Was that the only thing he heard? “We just bumped into each other. Anyway, what are you doing? Why were you on the floor?”

His face transforms into a scowl. “Someone decided to be sick on the floor. And I had to clean it up. Imagine being so scared of some actors that you actually throw up? Why would you even come in the first place?" 

-

_(Fifteen minutes earlier)_

"If I throw up,” you clutch at Younghee’s arm, “just get me out of here. Seriously, it’s a fear reaction.”

“If you throw up,” Younghee replies, “I’m going to get myself as far away from you as possible.”

-

“Yeah,” you chuckle. “Imagine.”

“So…” He looks around the empty corridor. “Are you going to head back to the main area? You’re a little far from where all the action happens and I bet your friends are still there. You could go back yourself, or… I could show you to the exit?”

It takes everything in you to restrain yourself from jumping at the opportunity to get out of this hell-hole. Instead, you shrug and act nonchalant.

"Only if you’ve got some free time. I think waiting at the exit will give me a better chance at finding the others.”

“Right,” Donghyuck nods, but there’s a twinkle in his eye that suggests he knows something you don’t. “Just follow me then, I’ll lead you to the exit.”

You begin to follow but immediately freeze up once you realise he’s leading you back down the way you’ve just come from.

“Are you sure there isn’t a back exit or anything? I don’t wanna interrupt the people who are in there right now. You mentioned a break room?”

“We’ll be fine,” Donghyuck hums, before turning to look at you. “Why, are you _scared_ or something?”

“Of course not,” you fake a smile for what seems like the millionth time this night. “Lead the way.”

“Great.” He grins back.

-

It takes you exactly five minutes to realise something is wrong.

“ _Boo!_ ” Someone dressed in an orange jumpsuit and carrying a chainsaw lunges and you and you leap back. It’s a pretty tame reaction for you. Had Donghyuck not been there, you would have most likely screamed and then punched the guy in the face.

In fact, Donghyuck is the sole reason why you haven’t already burst into tears. This is the third time you’ve been scared since you’d met up with him and was a miracle that you hadn’t had a nervous breakdown. But you couldn’t let him see you like that.

Donghyuck eyes you with a small smile as you compose yourself. “Did he scare you?”

“ _Of course not!_ ” There’s a noticeable strain in your voice, despite your best efforts to sound relaxed. It doesn’t help that you don’t take your eyes off the man even as he backs away into the shadows.

You jump again as a hand curls around your own. Following up the arm, you realise Donghyuck is the owner.

“What are you doing?” You choke out, praying he won’t see the heat rising to your cheeks.

“You’re a little slow,” he apologises, helping you out of the room. “And if something scares you again, you won’t jump back as far if you’re holding my hand.”

He squeezes you hand and you jump away from him, breaking the contact. “I’m _not_ scared.”

“Of course,” he soothes you, waiting until you’ve fallen silent before reaching for your hand again. 

Over the next few minutes, a woman dressed as a zombie grabs your ankle, two guys follow you down two corridors, and someone bursts out of a classroom screaming for help (and is then dragged back in).

“You’re gripping my hand quite tightly.” Donghyuck sing-songs.

“Are we near the exit?” You mutter, gritting your teeth to stop a scream from escaping you.

“Only five more minutes to go.” He comforts, though he doesn’t sound too sympathetic.

In any other situation you would be ecstatic, but there’s only so long you can hold in your cries of fear for. Five minutes pass, and then another, and then another, and it’s only when the man with the chainsaw scares you again that you realise:

“Are we going in circles?”

Donghyuck pauses for a moment. “We are.”

“ _Why?_ ”

“Because,” he stops walking and turns to look at you. “I’m waiting for you to admit it.”

“Admit what?”

You stare at him defiantly. In turn, he gazes at you with a patient smile, as if he’s an adult waiting for a child to confess.

“Admit that you’re scared shitless of this place.”

Your throat dries up.

“I’m not.”

“ _Boo!_ ” He suddenly lunges at you and it’s so out of the blue that you can’t help but scream and leap backwards. Once you realise what you’ve done you clamp a hand over your mouth, but it’s too late.

Donghyuck grins.

“So,” you cough, feeling the all-too-familiar feeling of heat rising to your cheeks. “That _may_ have caught me a little off guard.”

“Did the man with the chainsaw catch you a little off guard, too?” Dongyuck smiles down at you but his tone is deceivingly innocent. “And Ten, did he surprise you too?”

“Fine!” You snap, sick of his smug grin. “I’m scared, I admit it! I’ve been scared this whole time, and everywhere I go, something scares the shit out of me. Happy now?”

“Very,” he smirks down at you, before holding his hand out again.

“Why are you so interested, anyway?” You reply, reluctantly joining hands with him again as you set off. This time, you can only hope it’s the right way.

“Why did you come here if you’re such a scaredy-cat?” He counters.

Something about Donghyuck makes you a little bolder. You don’t know if it’s the way he’s so relaxed around you or the way he’s so sure he’s got you figured out, so you reply:

“Because I knew you were working tonight.”

He slows down for a moment, grip slackening, but then carries on again, still facing ahead.

“Why would you come just because I was working?” You can’t see him, but there’s no doubt there’s a smile in his voice.

“Don't make me spell it out!” You groan. He laughs, squeezing your hand. However, you’re caught off-guard by the sight of actual, real light spilling from a door in the distance.

“Is that the exit?”

“It is,” he confirms.

A smile takes over your face and you step forward, eager to get out. However, you suddenly find yourself pulled to the left and you can only watch in dismay as the light disappears from your sight. Before you can ask Donghyuck what he’s doing, however, he takes you through another door.

“And _this_ ,” he makes a sweeping motion around the room. “Is our second break room.”

“I don’t underst- the exit was right there?” You frown.

“You came here to see me, didn’t you?” He cocks his head, looking down at you with dark eyes. “And I have half an hour until I’m finished, so we might as well wait it out together.”

-


End file.
